Folsom is a city in

Sacramento County, California Sacramento County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, California, Sacramento, which has been the List ...

, United States. The population was 80,454 at the 2020 census, up from 72,203 residents at the 2010 census.

History

The

Nisenan The Nisenan are a group of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans and an Indigenous people of California from the Yuba River and American River watersheds in Northern California and the California Central Valley. According to a ...

tribe of Native Americans had long inhabited the area. The

Gold Rush of 1849 The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the Uni ...

brought violence, disease and overwhelming loss for the tribes.

Joseph Libbey Folsom Joseph Libbey Folsom (May 19, 1817 – July 19, 1855) was an American real estate investor, and military personnel in the early days of California's statehood. He was a United States Army officer. He is the founder of Folsom, California. Folsom ...

purchased

Rancho Rio de los Americanos Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California ** List of California Ranchos * Ranchos, Buenos ...

from the heirs of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

merchant

William Alexander Leidesdorff William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. (1810 – May 18, 1848) was an Afro-Caribbean settler in California and one of the founders of the city that became San Francisco. A highly successful, enterprising businessman, he is thought to have been the fir ...

, and laid out the town called Granite City, mostly occupied by gold miners seeking their fortune in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

foothills. Though few amassed a great deal of wealth, the city prospered due to Joseph Folsom's lobbying to get a railway to connect the town with

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

. Joseph died in 1855, and Granite City was later renamed Folsom in his honor. The railway was abandoned in the 1980s but opened up as the terminus of the Gold Line of

Sacramento Regional Transit District The Sacramento Regional Transit District, commonly referred to as SacRT (or simply RT), is the agency responsible for public transportation in the Sacramento, California area. It was established on April 1, 1973, as a result of the acquisition ...

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

service in 2005. A few former gold-rush era towns are located in and around Folsom, including Prairie City, Salmon Falls, and Mormon Island. Folsom included a significant

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

community when it was first incorporated, but arsonists burned Folsom's

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

in March 1886, driving Chinese Americans out of town. The establishment of

Folsom Prison Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, United States, approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Correcti ...

came in 1880, when the Livermore family made an agreement with the state to donate land for the prison in exchange for prison labor. They planned to build a hydro-electric dam from the

American River The American River is a List of rivers of California, river in California that runs from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. Via the Sacramento River, it ...

for a sawmill. Though the sawmill did not work out, the Livermores soon realized that the natural force of running water could provide enough power to transmit to Sacramento, and the Folsom Powerhouse, now a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

, was opened. At the time it was opened, it had the longest overhead run of electricity (22 miles) in the country. The powerhouse operated until 1952.

Folsom Dam Folsom Dam is a concrete Dam#Gravity dams, gravity dam on the American River of Northern California in the United States, about northeast of Sacramento, California, Sacramento. The dam is high and long, flanked by earthen wing dams. It was com ...

was built in 1956, providing flood control and water rights for the Sacramento Valley and created

Folsom Lake Folsom Lake is a reservoir on the American River in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, United States. Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, which encompasses the lake, is one of the most visited parks in the California park system. Locate ...

. The dam is located on the southwest corner of the lake. The lake is an estimated from Granite Bay to the most southern point of

. Folsom is home to

Folsom Lake College Folsom Lake College (FLC) is a public community college in Folsom, California. It is part of California Community Colleges system and the Los Rios Community College District. Folsom Lake College serves the community with classes offered at it ...

Folsom High School Folsom High School is a public secondary school in the Western United States, located in Folsom, California, a suburb east of Sacramento. Established in 1922, it is a part of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. School history The first ...

, Vista del Lago High School and a historic downtown district. Folsom is also home to the largest private employer in the Sacramento area,

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

. The Folsom Plan Area allows the construction of 11,000 homes resulting in 25,000 additional residents enlarging the city of Folsom by one-third. The planned community development area of south of Highway 50 includes additional housing, schools and parks along with office and commercial buildings.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (9.69%) is water. Folsom is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Carpenter Hill in Folsom has the highest elevation in Sacramento County, at 831 feet (253 meters).

Climate

Folsom's climate is characterized by long, hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.

Demographics

Folsom is part of the

− Arden-Arcade− Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area.

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Folsom had a population of 80,454. The population density was . The racial makeup of Folsom was 58.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.5% Native American, 19.7% Asian, 0.3%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 5.4% from other races, and 11.1% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 13.1% of the population. The census reported that 92.5% of the population lived in households, 0.3% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 7.2% were institutionalized. There were 28,336 households, out of which 36.9% included children under the age of 18, 58.0% were married-couple households, 4.7% were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 23.3% had a female householder with no partner present, and 13.9% had a male householder with no partner present. 22.8% of households were one person, and 10.1% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.63. There were 20,246

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(71.4% of all households). The age distribution was 22.2% under the age of 18, 7.4% aged 18 to 24, 27.2% aged 25 to 44, 28.8% aged 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 40.5years. For every 100 females, there were 106.7 males. There were 29,574 housing units at an average density of , of which 28,336 (95.8%) were occupied. Of these, 68.0% were owner-occupied, and 32.0% were occupied by renters. In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 19.2% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 75.3% spoke only English at home, 5.8% spoke

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, 7.9% spoke other

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

, 9.4% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 1.5% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 94.6% were high school graduates and 54.7% had a bachelor's degree. The median household income was $139,263, and the

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was $61,008. About 3.3% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line.

2010

At the 2010 census Folsom had a population of 72,203. The population density was . The racial makeup of Folsom was 53,627 (74.3%) White, 4,140 (5.7%) African American, 427 (0.6%) Native American, 9,000 (12.5%) Asian, 173 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 1,818 (2.5%) from other races, and 3,018 (4.2%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8,064 persons (11.2%). The census reported that 65,243 people (90.4% of the population) lived in households, 188 (0.3%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 6,772 (9.4%) were institutionalized. There were 24,951 households, 9,796 (39.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 14,399 (57.7%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 2,195 (8.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,006 (4.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,150 (4.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 137 (0.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 5,788 households (23.2%) were one person and 1,930 (7.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.61. There were 17,600 families (70.5% of households); the average family size was 3.13. The age distribution was 17,570 people (24.3%) under the age of 18, 5,344 people (7.4%) aged 18 to 24, 23,022 people (31.9%) aged 25 to 44, 19,358 people (26.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 6,909 people (9.6%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 37.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 114.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.9 males. There were 26,109 housing units at an average density of 1,074.4 per square mile, of the occupied units 17,442 (69.9%) were owner-occupied and 7,509 (30.1%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.2%. 47,982 people (66.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 17,261 people (23.9%) lived in rental housing units.

Economy

Top employers

According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: The total Folsom labor force is 35,500, approximately 59.6% of the total adult population asset of around 59,740.

Arts and culture

The city operates the Folsom Public Library, located in the Georgia Murray Building.

Parks and recreation

Livermore Community Park is located in Folsom and offers sports facilities and a water park. Folsom also boasts over fifty miles of trails, including the Humbug-Willow Creek Trail, Folsom Parkway Rail Trail, Lake Natoma Trail, and Oak Parkway Trail. The 32-mile American River Bike Trail, which starts in Sacramento, runs through Folsom along Lake Natoma. Bridges located in Folsom include Lake Natoma Crossing, the Rainbow Bridge, the Historic Truss Bridge, and Folsom Lake Crossing. There is also a pedestrian bridge over East Bidwell Street that opened on November 6, 2010, as part of a new segment on the Humbug-Willow Creek Trail. Another bridge was built over Folsom Lake Crossing in 2014 as part of the Johnny Cash Trail, a public art experience and bike trail honoring the singer

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

, which was opened on October 14, 2017. Folsom also includes part of the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, which is popular for hiking, boating, fishing, and biking, and a major attraction in the Sacramento region.

Government

In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, Folsom is in , and in the 7th Assembly District, represented by Republican Josh Hoover. Located within

California's 3rd congressional district California's 3rd congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, U.S. congressional district in California. It includes the northern Sierra Nevada and northeastern suburbs of Sacramento, California, Sacramento, stretc ...

, Folsom is represented in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

by Republican Kevin Kiley.

Education

is a public community college which is part of the Los Rios Community College District.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District Folsom Cordova Unified School District (FCUSD) is a school district headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California. It covers the cities of Folsom, Rancho Cordova, and most of Mather. There are 36 separate schools, including adult education and ...

operates public schools in Folsom and Rancho Cordova. The two high schools are

and Vista del Lago High School. The two middle schools are Folsom Middle School and Sutter Middle School.

Infrastructure

The

extended the light rail train system to Folsom via an extension to the Gold Line in October 2005, providing direct service to

Downtown Sacramento Downtown Sacramento is the central business district of the city of Sacramento, California, United States. Downtown is generally defined as the area south of the American River, east of the Sacramento River, north of Broadway, and west of 16th S ...

. Regional Transit also operates the Folsom Stage Line, a public bus service within the city of Folsom. In February 2020, 75 project customers, including the City of Folsom, received permanent federal water contracts for the Central Valley Project.

Notable people

Britani Bateman Britani Bateman ( Martin) is an American actress, singer, and television personality. She is best known as a cast member of the Bravo reality television series ''The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City''. Personal life Bateman was born in Provo, U ...

– actress, singer, and cast member on

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City ''The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City'' (abbreviated as ''RHOSLC''), is an American reality television series originally developed and cast by Los Angeles-based production company InventTV and then Shed Media. It is broadcast on Bravo. The '' ...

Shadrack Biwott Shadrack Kiptoo Biwott (born February 15, 1985, in Kenya) is a Kenyan-born American long-distance runner. Early life Biwott grew up in Eldoret in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya and moved to the United States in 2002 to attend La Cueva High Sch ...

–

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

long-distance runner * Jake Browning –

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

quarterback *

Peter Camejo Peter Miguel Camejo Guanche (December 31, 1939 – September 13, 2008) was a Venezuelan American author, activist, politician and Sailing Olympian. In the 2004 United States presidential election, he was selected by independent candidate Ralph ...

–

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

activist * McKenzie Forbes – WNBA player for the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

* Spider Jorgensen –

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player *

Aspen Ladd Aspen Ladd (born March 1, 1995) is an American professional mixed martial artist who is competing in the Featherweight division of Professional Fighters League (PFL). A professional since 2015, Ladd started her professional mixed martial arts car ...

– MMA fighter currently fighting in

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

Brennan Poole Brennan Cole Poole (born April 11, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet SS for Alpha Prime Racing, and part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, drivi ...

–

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

driver * Jordan Richards – free agent safety * Jonah Williams –

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

offensive lineman

In popular culture

The song "

Folsom Prison Blues "Folsom Prison Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, based on material composed by Gordon Jenkins. Written in 1953, it was first recorded and released as a single in 1955, and later included on his debut studio album ''John ...

" by

is about

Folsom State Prison Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, United States, approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Correcti ...

Sister cities

Crespano del Grappa Crespano del Grappa is a small town and a ''frazione'' of Pieve del Grappa in the province of Treviso, Veneto region of Italy. As of 2007 Crespano del Grappa had an estimated population of 4,680. History Crespano del Grappa was a separate ''comu ...

, Italy * Jiaohe City, China

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Sacramento County, California Cities in Sacramento metropolitan area American River (California) Geography of the Sacramento Valley Mining communities of the California Gold Rush 1946 establishments in California Populated places established in 1946 Incorporated cities and towns in California